


Wishes and Obligations

by darkness_prince_dan



Series: Darkness Trilogy [6]
Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Fluff and Angst, M/M, confusing fictional politics, parent!phan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-04
Updated: 2015-09-04
Packaged: 2018-04-19 00:08:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4725401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darkness_prince_dan/pseuds/darkness_prince_dan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The King of Darkness and the Light Lord are trying to be the perfect parents while hosting an international conference for world leaders as a new evil approaches.<br/>aka and additional fic to the 'Darkness Trilogy'.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wishes and Obligations

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is 13k words, like what??? When will I learn to control myself when writing fics for this universe...

The weather has been particularly odd lately. After a long month of drought and scorching heat, rain clouds start gathering, rolling in heavy and black. The temperature drops significantly and, as evening comes, pellets of ice hit the ground forcefully. Thunder follows lightning immediately, low and threatening, close to the castle grounds. Wind swirls in trees, violently ripping off leaves and breaking branches, howling loud and menacing. It’s utter chaos and the King of Darkness watches it all from the safety of his chamber.

“Perfect weather for August,” his husband comments, placing a hand around the King and looking through the window.

“Something evil is coming,” the King murmurs, half to himself.

“Yeah, I know, I can feel it too,” the Light Lord frowns, drawing the King closer to himself. “Some of the sages are already preaching about the end of the world on the streets of the Capital and Noxvale.”

“They’re going to start a panic,” the King of Darkness sighs and runs a hand through his curly brown hair.

“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it,” his husband replies, placing a soft kiss on the other’s shoulder. “I’ve already got extra guards patrolling the streets. And the Church has been kind enough to help calm people down.”

“Not without a price, of course,” the King grumbles.

“You know the Priest, he’s not really into religion. I nice sum of golden coins persuaded him easily enough,” the Light Lord answers.

There’s a tentative knock on the door, interrupting their discussion. A little boy with big green eyes and unruly dark brown hair enters after the King mutters a ‘come in’. The boy has a plush wolf nearly the size of him in his arms, hugging the fake animal to himself. His bottom lip is quivering and he startles as thunder grumbles too close to home.

“Nate,” Phil is at his child’s side at once. He hugs the boy close and lifts him up.

“Did the storm frighten you?” Dan questions softly, coming closer and stroking the cheek of his son.

The boy nods, snuggling closer to his father.

“Do you want to stay with us?” Phil asks and kisses the boy’s curls after he nods in affirmation again.

“I’ll check on Alex then,” the brunet suggests.

“She’s fine, Dan. You know she likes storms,” the other man replies. “And she’s probably already asleep.”

“I won’t disturb her,” Dan rolls his eyes. “I’m a master at stealth, Phil. I’ll be back soon,” he ruffles his son’s hair and kisses the boy’s forehead.

The halls of Noxvale castle are grand and dark, they get illuminated for a millisecond when lightning flashes through the windows and echo with every clap of thunder. The King of Darkness marches with ease; having grown up here, the labyrinthine corridors are much too familiar to him even with only half the torches providing light. He opens the doors to his daughter’s chamber slowly and quietly, peeking in. The girl is not in her bed. She sits curled up on a window seat, admiring the show outside.

“You should be sleeping, Lex,” Dan chastises the ten year old, who turns to him, startled.

“But it’s so fascinating,” Alexandra answers, grinning at her father.

The King sits next to his daughter. She’s got a beautiful view of the Shadow woods, mountains framing the thick line of trees that sway violently as hail becomes stronger.

“I’ve been reading about storms,” she says, looking out the window.

“I thought your teacher said it’s a bit advanced for you,” Dan smiles slightly and the girl rolls her grey eyes.

“If it were up to her, I’d still be reading fairy tales,” Alexandra says irately. “And I want to read normal books for our classes. You know, I have already read some of the books from Phil’s library at his office in the Parliament Palace,” she brags.

“With Phil’s permision, of course,” Dan adds. The volumes the Light Lord has there are highly expensive, some of them hundreds of years old, containing the history of the Republic. He doesn’t let anyone get close to them.

“Of course,” the girl agrees with a serious face and then they both giggle.

“Alright, you genius,” Dan says. “We have an important day tomorrow, you need to go to bed.”

“Ugh,” the girl frowns, her dark locks falling in her face. “Can’t we skip press conferences? They’re so boring.”

“Don’t tempt me,” he smiles. “I got yelled at by Phil the last time we did that.”

“Fine,” Alexandra throws her hands in the air, sighing. “But I’m wearing jeans. I hate those poofy dresses.”

“Aww,” Dan pouts slightly, mock disappointed. “But you look so adorable in them. You could wear that pink one with all the ribbons,” he teases her.

The girl crosses her arms, pursing her lips and narrowing her eyes at her father. The King of Darkness soon cracks a smile.

“Alright,” he gives up. “Jeans it is. I’ll get ready for all the newspaper headlines saying how we don’t know how to appropriately dress our children for important events.”

“You’ll survive,” Alexandra smirks.

“I do hope so,” Dan stands up. “Goodnight, Alex,” he kisses the top of the girl’s head.

“Night, Dad,” she responds with a soft smile as he leaves the room.

The King of Darkness doesn’t comment on her words, he just smiles to himself as he closes the chamber door softly. Alexandra isn’t one to call him or Phil ‘father’, not to mention ‘dad’. She and her brother have only been with the King and the Lord for over two years. They both witnessed the murders of their parents, hence why Nathan hasn’t uttered a word since then. The siblings were traumatised after witnessing such an awful event and the orphanage staff didn’t aid them in dealing with it thus the first year at the castle was difficult for them as well as for their new adoptive parents. However, they’re all more used to each other now and family life runs smoother and smoother as days go by. Thus such a breakthrough as Alexandra calling Dan ‘dad’ is enough reason to keep the smile on his face for a long time.

The King’s ice cold heart melts even more at the sight which greets him when he enters his bedroom. His husband sits leaning against the headboard of their bed, humming softly and brushing through their son’s locks. The boy has discarded his plush wolf in exchange for a real one; he’s got his face buried in the shadow wolf’s chest, little fists tightly clenching the black fur. The animal of pure darkness and evil lies still and courageously endures the cuddles of the boy, though it does send a death glare to its master upon the latter’s entrance. Lying across the Lord’s lap is another shadow wolf; this one’s dark blue, as is the Lord’s magic, with streaks of black in its fur.

The storm outside still rages. Gusts of wind are becoming stronger and are now directing the hail towards the castle windows, luckily unsuccessful in breaking them. Branches whip around, tearing off leaves from each other. A tree falls in the distance, shaking the ground, the loud noise ripping through the uproar of the storm.

“How’s Alex?” Phil asks quietly so as not to wake their son.

“She loves all of this,” Dan whispers back, glancing at the window as he approaches the bed. Sitting down on the left side, next to his wolf, he combs through its fur, watching Nathan sleep peacefully. “She called me ‘dad’ as I left,” he smiles and looks at his husband.

“Oh my gods,” the Lord’s grin is as wide as the King’s. “That’s great, Dan.”

“I know,” he responds, feeling happier than he ever felt before

***

The Parliament Palace never was the King’s favourite place. Admittedly, the architect of the building was a genius to create such an astounding edifice. However, the humongous size of the Palace seems too excessive for the King, the pure white marble bas-reliefs on every wall of every ring the building consists of are off putting to him as he prefers much more darker colours, he finds the gardens in-between the four rings rather unnecessary as they host plants of different geographical varieties (truly, who needs a replica of the desert between the third and the last rings? It’s hardly even aesthetically pleasing). He does have to admit, though, that the many rooms located in the outer ring of the Palace are perfect for housing all the attendees of the conference he and his husband had planned.

After the previous night’s storm, the landscape around Noxvale changed quite a bit; trees have been rooted out, branches have fallen on roads, obstructing traffic, gardens and fields suffered immensely from the hail that destroyed the plants. The Capital, however, was not touched by the storm as it is a few hundred miles away from Noxvale thus all the glass domes and windows of the Palace are still in place. As much couldn’t be said about the King’s castle which is in dire need of new windows.

The press conference is held before the entrance of the Parliament Palace since it is forbidden by law for journalists to go snooping around inside, especially when such a grand event is happening and when security is of utmost importance. Golden Guards along with Night Soldiers are plentiful. They stand in a line, blocking the crowd from getting too close to the building, others are milling about, ensuring the safety of the people gathered to see the Lord and the King’s family as well as some of the foreign leaders. The wall of security looks quite curious as the Lord’s guards are dressed in gold and white while the King’s soldiers are donned in all black; it’s a legacy from before the Commonwealth was created, when the at the time Prince of Darkness ruled the Kingdom and the Light Lord ruled the Republic. The merging of the countries has been a difficult one and there are still plenty of people not pleased with that decision.

Nathan is keeping a grip on Phil’s wolf with his left hand and latches onto his father’s hand with his right. Alexandra, not used to the crowds as well, holds Dan’s hand with her left one as the other shadow wolf marches on her right. Usually confident and self-assured, the girl looks her age now, a slightly terrified ten year old.

“It’s going to be fine,” Dan reassures her, smiling slightly. They’re passing the second ring at the moment, getting closer to the entrance. “You don’t have to say or do anything. They just want to see us together announcing the beginning of the conference.”

The girl nods weakly, biting her lip, looking before her. Dan and Phil have made it a strict rule for their children not to be bothered by journalists and only on rare occasions would the whole family be seen in public. So there’s little surprise that a lot of curious people have gathered to see the royal family for the first time.

“You ready?” Phil asks, smirking at Dan. They just went through the glass pathway connecting the second and first rings, the woods of local variety trapped between them under glass domes.

“As much as I’ll ever be,” the King shrugs a shoulder.

The noise and the amount of people outside are overwhelming. Nathan hides behind Phil’s legs so the Lord takes his son into his arms which calms the boy slightly. Dan hugs Alexandra around the shoulders and she grips onto his black cloak, frightened eyes flitting around the crowd behind the Golden Guards and Night Soldiers. The King of Darkness raises his hand, the cheers die down quickly.

“Good morning and welcome the citizens of the Commonwealth and visitors from other countries,” the Light Lord begins.

“Good morning and welcome the leaders of the world and their councillors,” the King follows up. The leaders are standing on the steps, a few feet away from them but still protected by the line of Guards and Soldiers. “My husband and I are grateful to have you here on this extraordinary occasion.”

“For the first time in our history,” Phil continues, “the rulers of the world have gathered together to discuss problems concerning us all. We wish for this conference to be a civilised matter which will produce effective solutions.”

“In order to achieve these goals,” Dan says, “and to ensure the safety of our guests, strict regulations of admittance to the Palace have been announced and the security of the Palace has been increased. We ask you to keep to these rules, otherwise you will be punished severely,” he looks mostly at the journalists on the front lines.

“We hope that you will enjoy your time in our country,” the Lord addresses the leaders.

“And that the conference will prove to be fruitful,” the King adds.

“Thus we officially announce the beginning of the first World Leader conference and welcome you all,” Phil finishes their greeting speech.

As previously arranged, the 9 leaders join the royal family on the highest step whilst the crowd cheers and the artists sketch out the gathering which will be all over tomorrow’s newspapers. When the people get silent once more, the leaders, one by one, graciously announce how happy they are to be here and to be changing the world with such extraordinary people. It’s mostly lies, Dan knows. He and Phil worked for months to convince some of them to even arrive at the event and they’re already dreading how they will tame this party of the most selfish arrogant stuck-up people in the entire world. However, as more and more global problems plague the world, they need to make this work.

The press conference before the actual conference doesn’t take long. Mostly because Dan can’t stand journalists and their irrelevant to the occasion questions, and also because he doesn’t want to put his children through more of that than necessary. Thus as the King announces that no more questions will be answered today, much to the dismay of the so called reporters, the party of the leaders enters the Parliament Palace where they all can quietly exchange less formal greetings.

“Cousin,” Alice Howell, the President of the North Federation, comes to greet the royal family first. She’s tall, lean, dark haired and brown-eyed as many of the Howells. “How’s family life treating you?” She smirks.

“Quite great, actually,” the King’s smile isn’t even ironic as he admits it.

“Woah, don’t act so happy, it’ll ruin your image,” the President laughs. “So, Phil,” she turns to the Lord. “Is it nice being the King of Shadows?”

“Actually, I don’t go by that title,” Phil responds, thinking that Alice should know that after six years of him and Dan being married. “The Commonwealth has a King and a Lord.”

“Yeah, it doesn’t sound as good,” she shakes her head. “Want to introduce me to your children?” She asks glancing first at Alexandra and then at Nathan, who’s now on the ground instead of Phil’s arms and hiding behind his father.

“Alice, meet Alexandra and Nathan,” Dan says fondly. “Alex, Nate, this is Alice. She’s my cousin.”

“Nice to meet you,” Alexandra murmurs quietly while Nathan only briefly looks at the woman.

“You too, darling,” Alice grins at her. “I see you’re following Dan’s style choices,” she laughs lightly, referring to the all-black ensemble the girl chose for today. “Does she also wield dark magic?” The President asks Dan.

“No,” Alex answers for herself, frowning at the way she was so suddenly excluded from the conversation. “I have light magic. Phil’s been teaching me.”

“Really?” Alice lifts an eyebrow, directing her glance at the Light Lord. “You’ve lost your light magic and you still teach her? How’s that going?”

“I might have lost it but I still remember how it was like to have it,” Phil responds through gritted teeth, crossing his arms; he’s not a fan of being reminded of the most traumatic event of his life.

“Alright,” Dan interjects, seeing the not so happy face Alice is making at the moment. “I think we’ve had enough of you for now,” he says pointedly as the President and the Lord exchange death glares.

“See you at the ball tonight then,” she fakes a smile and moves on to the next leader.

“What’s her problem?” Alexandra whispers, pursing her lips.

“She’s got many of those,” Phil answers her equally quietly since another official is approaching them.

“Greetings to the royal family,” Princess Melinda of the Southern States smiles at them as her escort of 20 people standing behind her bow. She’s got darker skin and she’s dressed in more revealing clothing that’s appropriate to the climate of her country. Her companions wear more or less the same type of nearly see through fabrics.

“Melinda, always great to see you,” Phil extends his hands and hugs her briefly. The Princess always got along better with Phil while her father preferred Dan; he was the one who supported the at the time still Prince of Darkness in his war against the Republic.

“Yeah, just wonderful,” Dan mumbles, hardly hiding his jealousy at their friendliness. Alex glances at him, smirking.

“This is Alexandra,” Phil motions to their daughter after he’s out of Melinda’s clutches. “And this is Nathan,” he ruffles the boy’s hair.

“Such a beautiful family you have, Phil,” the Princess praises, having eyes only for the Light Lord. Dan rolls his own eyes and Alex giggles quietly, he shoots her a glare.

“Thank you,” Phil replies, oblivious to everything. “We are quite happy.”

“That’s just wonderful, I wish nothing but happiness for you,” Melinda chirps in that sweet voice of hers, stroking Phil’s upper arm. Dan huffs along with his wolf, who’s also acquiring some of its master’s stronger emotions.

“Great seeing you, Melinda,” the King says faux friendly. “We’ll see you later tonight?”

“Yes, of course,” she gives Dan merely a second of her attention. “Till the evening, Phil,” she throws the Lord another one of her dazzling smiles and retreats with her whole court.

“That was real subtle, Dan,” Phil murmurs, smirking at his husband.

“That was on purpose?” The King narrows his eyes at him. “You little sh–”

“Hey,” Phil points at him. “No swearing around children.”

Both Dan and Alex roll their eyes.

Next to greet them is the Empress Selena of the Empire. She’s old, always cold and never happy about anything. Basically, she’s a pain in the ass when it comes to discussing politics with her. Dan thinks he liked Robert more; the previous Emperor at least was fun when he wasn’t trying to take over the whole continent and burn it to the ground.

“I always say that men are incompetent,” she grumbles instead of a ‘good morning’. “Why would you let your daughter dress this way during such an event? What kind of girl doesn’t wear dresses?” Selena demands, glaring at Alexandra’s sneakers, skinny jeans and t-shirt; Alex glances at the ground self-consciously and Dan puts a hand around her shoulders, squeezing slightly. The Empress herself is wearing a woolly dark blue dress that’s more fit for the harsh weather of the north and not the summer of the Commonwealth. Her entourage is dressed more appropriately considering where they are. “And what kind of boy hides behind his father instead of greeting an older wiser woman? Are you a coward, boy?” She barks, glaring at the four year old who’s staring at her, eyes wide in fear; Phil looks down at their son, smiling reassuringly and whispering an ‘it’s fine’ to him while following Dan’s lead and hugging the boy protectively.

“Good morning to you too, Empress,” Dan answers, not amused.

“It’s great having you here,” Phil adds, trying to be gracious.

“Yes, yes, pleasantries and all that,” she waves them off. “I will need to talk to you two alone later. I have a proposition that should interest you.”

“Of course,” the Lord nods. It’s easier to just agree with her than say that hardly any of her propositions might interest them.

“Good, good,” she nods to herself and leaves them without so much as ‘goodbye’.

“You okay?” Phil addresses Alex, worried that Selena might have hurt her feelings with her comments.

“I’m fine,” she smiles weakly at him, leaning into Dan for comfort. He bends down to kiss her curls.

“You look great,” the King reassures her, thinking that he’ll need to have some words with that old hag from the north.

After the Empress, the Caesar of one of the countries of the East steps up to them. His entourage consists of 6 consuls and two of his sons; they’re all dressed too colourfully for Dan’s liking. It doesn’t help Dan’s suspicious nature that he has never directly spoken to the Caesar and has no idea what to expect from him; such unknown deeply disturbs the King of Darkness and Caesar Augustus is not the only wild card at this conference, there are plenty of other leaders Dan’s not met. However, the Caesar smiles warmly at them, bowing nearly to the ground.

“Your Royal Highnesses,” he looks first at Phil and then at Dan. “I am absolutely delighted to have been invited to such an important event.”

“Your Majesty is always welcome here,” the Light Lord answers politely.

“We could never have arranged this without Your Majesty’s help,” Dan adds candidly. To be fair, it’s mostly thanks to Lady Charlotte who has connections in the East, however, only in one of the countries. Caesar Augustus helped contact the deeper parts of the continent.

“Oh, it was my absolute pleasure,” he waves his hand, laughing lightly. “May I introduce you with my sons?” He motions to the boys on either side of him. They’re both dark haired and hazel eyed like his father, though a bit lighter in the shade of skin. “This is Hadrian,” he gestures to the older boy who looks about fifteen. “And this is Titus,” the other boy seems to be about twelve. Both sons of the Caesar bow respectfully. “I suppose this is your beautiful daughter,” Augustus smirks at Alex. “And your son, the future king of the Commonwealth,” he tilts his head slightly to the side so he’d see Nate.

“Yes,” Dan answers, not liking the interest Augustus has taken in their children. “Alexandra and Nathan.”

Alex waves a hand timidly at the Caesar and Nate glances from behind Phil’s leg. The wolves, however, are not as thrilled to meet Augustus and they both growl lowly as he tries to step closer.

“Apologies,” Phil says at once, putting a hand on his blue wolf and casting a glance at Dan, they’re both thinking the same – they have to be careful with the Easterners. “They’re rather protective.”

“No worries,” Augustus laughs it off. “Well, we better not stop the line. We’ll see you tonight.”

“Yes, of course,” Dan nods and watches the whole entourage leave. “I don’t like him, he’s got an agenda,” the King muses as the Easterners get out of earshot.

“Yeah, he might cause trouble,” Phil purses his lips.

“And he’s got friends here,” Alex adds, looking at Augustus’s party who are now conversing with other Caesars from the same continent. “You don’t know them either, right? The whole lot of them might be planning something. And they outnumber you quite a bit.”

“Oh, you little politician,” Phil grins at her. She’s right, however. If it would come to a vote on a certain matter, the Caesars would most likely follow Augustus’s lead. That’s why he keeps telling Dan that they need more allies who would support their proposals.

“I learn from the best,” she shrugs a shoulder, smiling.

Nathan tugs at Phil’s jeans, making grabby hands at him and pouting. The Lord gives in pretty easily and takes the boy into his arms.

The next leader, King Aaron of the Southern Continent, is a man of few words, Dan finds. He’s got only a few councillors accompanying him and he makes a lot of jerky movements with his head, it’s quite distracting. At least he appears to be quite straightforward and simple so Dan crosses him off the list of the people who might ruin the conference.

“I will wish to speak to you both tonight,” Aaron near orders after the pleasantries. Dan thinks that he and Phil will have a lot of those one on one conversations.

“Of course, Your Majesty,” Phil agrees easily.

“Good,” Aaron nods jerkily and leaves them.

The last of the crème de la crème of world leaders is President Elliott of the Free Nations. He’s the one that denied help to Dan when he was at war with the Republic until the countries united. Elliott proves to be one of those peaceful relaxed floral patterns wearing pacifists who see only the positive in everything; his escort is much like him. This, of course, doesn’t mean he’s not as dangerous as anyone else that has arrived at the conference.

“Greetings,” he announces all joyful, a complete opposite of Aaron. “Dan, Phil,” he looks at each of them with a never wavering smile. “And, of course, Alexandra and little Nathan,” he smiles at the children too.

“Elliott,” the King of Darkness can hardly mask the dislike in that one word.

“Welcome,” the Light Lord says more warmly, he’s always liked that free-spirited peace lover more.

“I do hope I’ll be able to talk to you alone this fine evening,” Elliott asks, his hands clasped together as he looks from Phil to Dan.

“You’ll have to get in line,” the brunet murmurs too irately and Phil shoots him a look.

“I’m sure we’ll be able to arrange that,” the Lord answers more politely.

“Brilliant,” Elliott claps his hands in joy and flits off with his companions.

“You don’t have to be so obvious,” Phil chastises his husband.

“Oh come on,” Dan rolls his eyes. “He was seconds from throwing flower petals out of his oversized sleeves,” Alex giggles at that and Phil looks at both of them disapprovingly.

It’s well past midday when the royal family finally returns to their home. Nathan is already asleep in Phil’s arms and Alexandra seems exhausted from meeting and greeting so many strangers. Dan and Phil are quite tired too since they’ve been making sure that everything is in order for tonight without even having a chance to grab lunch. After their children are back in their rooms, resting, the King and the Lord finally get a chance to relax.

“This is how it’s going to be from now on, right?” Dan sighs, completely drained already, as they’re lying side by side on the bed, a shadow wolf resting across both of their stomachs. The blue wolf, Phil’s one, is currently used as a cuddly toy of Nathan’s as they couldn’t find the stuffed one.

“You mean, you don’t like organising the biggest event in history, making sure none of the world leaders are assassinated on our watch which would cause wars and mayhem all around the globe if it were to happen, and taking care of two children at the same time?” Phil asks raising an eyebrow and turning his head so he’d be able to look at his husband.

“I think that’s a bit too much responsibility for us right now,” Dan responds seriously, threading his fingers through his wolf’s fur. The animal purrs softly, the sound vibrates through both of their bodies, tickling. “Nate still needs a lot of attention from us and Alex just started to properly accept us as parents. I’d rather give all of my energy to ensuring that our children are happy than hosting a party for people I don’t even give a shit about,” he shrugs a shoulder.

“Look who’s all about family now?” Phil smirks at him but Dan doesn’t smile back.

“I just wish to give them the perfect family, I want them to be happy,” he murmurs, turning to look at the squares of sunshine coming in from the open windows and illuminating the ceiling.

“I want that too,” Phil answers, taking Dan’s free hand and twining their fingers. “But we also have obligations to our citizens as rulers of this country. What’s happening now has to be dealt with until we are sure that the Commonwealth will survive,” he strokes his thumb over the back of Dan’s hand, ghosting over the black tattoo-like marks on his wrist.

“So you’re saying we should put the needs of our country before our own,” the King summarises sulkily.

“No,” the Light Lord squeezes his husband’s fingers. “We’ll balance it. We work well together, Dan, really well. We’ll figure it out,” he lifts their joint hands and pecks the back of Dan’s hand.

Dan stares at him a second and then pushes the wolf off them, rolling onto his husband and kissing him passionately on the lips. Phil’s hands are instantly under Dan’s t-shirt, fingers tracing the black lines swirling over his left side, making the man on him tremble. Meanwhile, the brunet nips at his lover’s lip, drawing out a sultry moan from him. Ghosting his lips across Phil’s jaw, Dan reaches his neck, leaving butterfly kisses. He pulls the shirt Phil’s wearing off his shoulder so he can bite the clavicle and leave a mark which no one would see. The King giggles as the Lord’s hands move more south, caressing his behind, gliding over his thighs. It’s soft and slow and rather lazy. Dan lifts his head, connecting their lips again, both of them sighing. For the first time in months they’re completely relaxed in each other’s arms, there’s no need to rush to do something, they can simply enjoy the moment.

The make-out session doesn’t escalate further as they both agree that they could use a nap more. Phil’s brushing through Dan’s dark curls, the latter’s head on his chest; they still are lying across the bed, legs hanging off the edge. The wolf, insulted by being casually thrown off before, sulks in the sunlight cast on the floor. It’s absolute bliss. Until the King jumps up suddenly.

“We forgot to invite the Great Oracle,” he says all worried, eyes wide.

“You literally saw her this morning at the reception,” Phil rolls his eyes, tugging on Dan’s shirt for him to lie back down.

“I did?” The King wonders, looking at the Lord confused.

“Yeah, relax, it’s all done and it’s going to be fine,” the other assures him.

“You’re right,” Dan nods, cuddling up to his husband once again.

As the King falls asleep, finally worry free, the Lord wonders how the hell could they have forgotten to invite the Great Oracle when they invited the High Priest and how much this seemingly little slip up will bite them in the ass later.

***

The Main Hall of the Parliament Palace is a circular room bordered by dozens of archways. It’s an extremely well-lit place as there are hundreds of ice fire torches hanging between every arch and the glass dome, covering the whole room, lets in all of the dying sunlight. Now the hall is filled with people and Golden Guards along with Night Soldiers stand by every archway. Everyone who is someone is here, mingling, getting to know other influential noblemen, discussing various deals. It’s completely boring and mind-numbing and the King of Darkness gets increasingly annoyed with every faux pleasant conversation about nothing. However, he has appearances to keep up and his husband is beside him, suffering as much, which is quite consoling.

Their son has been left at home since so many strangers in one place might have made him feel uncomfortable. He’s under heavy supervision, of course, as the King and the Lord are both extremely protective and paranoid parents; Phil’s even left his wolf with Nathan much to the dismay of the animal and to the joy of the boy. Alexandra, however, has come here with them. There aren’t many children at the event for her to talk to, though that implies she would want to converse with other children; Alex finds others her age ‘childish and annoying and not able to hold a thought stimulating discussion’. Thus she sticks with her parents, listening in on politics based conversations.

“Have you noticed how Augustus has been eyeing us?” Phil asks as the three of them are left alone for once.

“Yeah, the other leaders have been too,” Dan answers, glancing around. “I guess they want those talks we promised them.”

“Then we should get started,” Phil sighs, as unhappy about it as Dan.

“Wait,” Alexandra says suddenly, staring out a window she’s facing. “There’s someone in the gardens,” she looks wide-eyed at her parents.

“Probably just security,” Dan answers her, turning around to glance out as well. The window is a whole gallery away and partly obscured by an archway so he can’t really see much.

“Our guards are not dressed in red,” the girl shakes her head.

“Red?” Phil echoes at once, exchanging a glance with Dan. “Are you sure you saw someone dressed in red?”

“Yeah,” Alex answers. “They had a blue armband on,” she elaborates.

“Fuck,” is Dan’s immediate reaction as he rakes through his hair.

Phil doesn’t even comment on the inappropriate use of language around children as he too searches for something outside the window. He sees only sand dunes, though.

“Should we evacuate?” The Lord turns to his husband, all worried but trying to fake calm.

“I don’t know, I don’t know,” the King shakes his head; his wolf is restless now too, grumbling and staring unblinkingly with its three eyes out the glass dome covering the Main Hall.

“What’s going on?” Alexandra questions, her voice trembles slightly.

“There’s this group of extremists – the Resistance,” Dan explains. “They haven’t been active for months. We should’ve known they were planning something. And with all these people here,” he runs his hands over his face. “Shit.”

“Alright,” Phil says in a confident tone. “Dan, get Alex home,” he orders. “I’ll talk to the Captain of the Golden Guards, we’ll get them to scour the gardens and the whole building.”

“Right,” the King nods, extending his arm to open up a portal home, a few hundred miles away from here.

“No,” Alex near shouts, grabbing onto Dan’s hand. “What about Dad?” She asks a bit panicky. “We can’t leave him here if those men are dangerous.”

Finally people start noticing the slight panic happening among the royal family as everyone’s eyes are suddenly on them. But then there’s the sound of shattering glass above them, and Dan’s first instinct is to shield his daughter from the rain of shards. Chaos sets in after that, the Resistance are everywhere and Golden Guards and Night Soldiers are filling into the room.

“Are you okay?” Dan and Phil ask their daughter in unison; they have to nearly shout as there’s so much noise around.

The girl nods frantically, eyes full of fear, bottom lip trembling. Dan’s wolf barks behind them and both men turn around. Dozens of arrows are flying their way and Phil reacts instantly. His right hand is on the shadow wolf and the left one extended towards the enemies. A shield comes up instantly, sparkling dark blue with black lines swirling through it. It lasts for only a few seconds as it is much more difficult for Phil to channel magic from a wolf that doesn’t belong to him. After the shield comes down, the situation has been already managed. The Resistance are being taken away, the nobility are safe, and the only apparent targets – the royal family – have not been harmed.

“Your Majesties,” a voice says behind them and Dan glances up to see the Captain of the Golden Guards standing next to them, her sword is in her left hand.

“How the fuck did this happen?” The King growls at her, standing up, keeping his daughter close to himself.

“We were sure we had secured all possible entry points, Your Grace,” the Captain responds, her voice too calm for Dan’s liking. “We must have missed something. I’m sorry.”

“You’re sorry?” The King of Darkness snarls at her. “You put my family in danger, because of your ineptitude the most powerful people in the world could have died, and you are sorry,” he scoffs.

“Dan,” the Light Lord puts a hand on his husband’s shoulder. “Calm down. I’m sure it was a simple mistake which will never happen again,” he glances at the Captain.

“Of course, Your Highness,” she bows her head, emotions non-existent.

“Now let’s arrange for the leaders to go with us to Noxvale,” Phil suggests.

“It will be taken care of,” the Captain nods and returns to her Guards.

“How can you be so emotionless?” Dan near shouts, turning to Phil. “We should have her head off for this.”

“I am not emotionless,” Phil says through gritted teeth. “But this is hardly the place or time to be out of control. So pull yourself together, please, because you’re scaring Alex,” he explains as composed as possible.

Dan looks down at their daughter who is clutching the shadow wolf’s fur and staring at them, eyes brimming with tears.

“I’m sorry, sweetheart,” the King mumbles, kneeling down and enveloping her in a hug. “Sorry,” he says to his husband and Phil just nods in acknowledgment.

The arrangements are made fairly quickly. The party ends unusually early and everyone safely travels through the portal back to Noxvale where they’ll stay until this matter has been dealt with. It’s not the perfect solution as there is very limited room in the castle and the King and the Lord have to sacrifice their privacy, allowing the guests take up rooms in the wing where only the royal family lives.

The upcoming few days are extremely difficult for the King and the Lord. Their guests are most demanding and impossible to shake off once they start a conversation. It doesn’t help that all of them have selfish agendas and soon drama sets in under the roof of Noxvale castle. Princess Melinda keeps actively seeking out Phil, flirting with him even in Dan’s presence, which makes the King grit his teeth and glare at her, however, she’s rather oblivious to it and Phil only finds Dan’s jealousy amusing and doesn’t stop her advances. President Elliott defies all the rules established by Dan’s head of security and leaves the castle every evening to go meditate in some meadow or other; Dan thinks that if Elliott gets murdered, at least there won’t be any more annoying talks about the prosperity of his country once he established a no-weapons law. Alice spends most of her time discussing something in secret with Empress Selena; this unnerves Dan quite a bit since Selena has an army larger than that of Commonwealth, and Alice is always up for throwing monarchs out of their thrones. The King decides that he likes King Aaron best; he’s a simple fellow, straight on letting Dan know that he thinks all of this is bullshit and they won’t achieve anything since the leaders wish for so many different things and that Dan and Phil only wasted their time for this and risked everyone’s lives for nothing, however, he adds that they’re quite smart guys and he’ll support them if need be. Caesar Augustus and his sons are Dan’s biggest concern; the boys keep trying to charm Alexandra who is completely uninterested in them and has said as much, they do not respect those boundaries, however, and Dan suspects Augustus’s involvement in that. To add to this, the Caesar keeps whispering to other Easterners in dark corners which disconcerts Dan more than Alice and Selena’s talks. The cherry on top of this political cake are Dan and Phil’s councillors and nobles who also have their own wishes and pester them both at any given moment. For the millionth time in his life, Dan is fed up with being the King of Darkness and even the solace of his husband’s arms can’t comfort him.

***

Three awful, hectic, sleepless days pass and finally the leaders are back at the Parliament Palace. It has been combed through and the Resistance have been questioned. The King even sent the Head of the Night Soldiers there to work together with the Captain of the Golden Guards and ensure utmost security so that Dan wouldn’t have to experience the horror of being a host ever again.

Nearing midnight, the Noxvale castle is as quiet as it’s supposed to be. Only a few torches light up the dark halls. The night is calm for once. The moon is round, slowly floating through the sky, followed by thousands of stars. August breeze is soft and warm, coming in through open windows, making the torch flames flicker.

A boy is running through the halls of West Wing of the castle, squealing loudly and laughing till he’s short of breath. A shadow wolf frolics beside him, three pale blue eyes luminescent in near darkness, tongue hanging out of the side of its mouth. A king sprints past them both, shouting to hurry up.

“Oh my gods!” The boy hears his father’s surprised shout and a ‘thump’ as the man rounds the corner.

The four year old giggles uncontrollably when he sees the King on the ground, his other father standing beside him with a raised eyebrow.

“I thought you were supposed to be playing hide and seek,” Phil says, watching Dan sit up.

“I caught you!” Alex shouts, appearing from round the corner, smothering her brother in a hug. Nathan protests against such familiarity with his sibling and sticks out his tongue, sprinting away from the girl again. They run in circles around the nearest pillars, both have the biggest grins on.

“Yeah, Alex is really not good at that,” Dan says, taking a hand Phil’s offered and standing up.

“Lies,” Alexandra responds, still running and almost catching up with her brother. “Dan cheats,” she announces.

“I do not,” the King answers indignantly, crossing his arms. “You’re the one who used a light spell to find me and Nate.”

“And you did a cloaking spell to hide from me,” she argues breathless, stopping and leaning her hands on her knees. Nathan’s not fazed as he keeps running around her in circles; the wolves join him and the boy starts chasing them instead.

“Yeah, he used to do it all the time when we were kids,” Phil nods in agreement and Dan scoffs at such uncalled-for accusations.

“You both just need to admit that I’m good at hiding and you suck at searching,” Dan says haughtily.

“Oh, you want to prove it?” Phil challenges him.

“You wanna go?” Dan turns to him, eyebrows raised. “Let’s go right now, Philly.”

“You’re going down, Danny,” Phil mocks, stepping closer to his husband, their noses nearly touching, both of them grinning.

There’s a squeal and a growl, interrupting their trash talk. All jokes are forgotten as they go into over-protective parent mode, sprinting to their son who is now crying.

“Nate, what’s wrong?” Phil asks, looking for any physical injuries.

“He pulled the wolf’s tail,” Alexandra explains. “It growled at him.”

“Fury, Vengeance,” Dan looks sternly at the wolves; the black one has its eyes narrowed at the boy and turns its head to look at its master. “What did I tell you guys? Play nice or don’t play at all.”

The wolves roll their eyes and turn their snouts up and away from Dan, clearly insulted.

“It’s not their fault, Dan,” Phil says, glancing at his husband briefly and then refocusing on their son. “Nathan, you can’t pull the animals’ tails,” he explains, wiping away the boy’s tears. “It hurts them, you have to be gentle with animals. Do you understand?” He asks softly. Nate nods, biting his lip. “Alright, now make up,” Phil looks at Dan’s wolf, motioning for it to come closer. The shadow wolf approaches grudgingly. Nathan pets the animal gently and kisses its nose. “Brilliant,” Phil smiles at his son.

“Wow,” Dan breathes as Phil stands up. “Have you been spending time with Elliott? Did his whole pacifist thing rub off on you?” He asks mock seriously. Alex sniggers and she and Dan exchange a grin. Phil just shakes his head at them.

Thus concludes the family game night with Phil hardly even being involved as he had an impromptu council meeting to attend. They take Alexandra back to her room, giving her kisses on the forehead and saying ‘goodnight’. Nathan’s already subdued by earlier events and it doesn’t take him long to fall asleep as Dan reads him a story. The boy’s plush wolf has been found the day before, so now he hugs it to himself as he sleeps soundly. Dan and Phil leave their son’s room not making a noise and head back to their own chamber, hand in hand.

“I know I joke a lot but you’re really brilliant with children,” the brunet admits in a whisper as they’re crossing the quiet halls. “The way you handled that situation, that was some good parenting.”

“Thanks,” Phil blushes slightly and Dan smiles at the sight and the knowledge that his compliments still have an effect on Phil even after all these years. “I just wish I could’ve stayed for the whole family night,” he chews on his bottom lip. “It’s the first we’ve had in weeks and I had to go to that meeting, it’s not fair, I wanted to spend time with the kids.”

“I know, love,” Dan squeezes their intertwined fingers. “There will be plenty of game nights in the future. And I’ll attend the next impromptu meeting, okay?” He suggests. “Balance, remember?” He smirks and Phil smiles back.

***

The first official meeting of world leaders goes better than Dan thought possible. Surprisingly, nobody’s just shouting their opinions, they’re respectful and civilised (for now). It’s unexpected but not unwelcome as they do have to discuss important matters.

They’re on the level below the Main Hall. The chamber is, of course, round and pretty light considering there are no windows here. A marble circular table is in the middle with eleven chairs around it. There’s nothing fancy about the room but Dan still dislikes it.

“As you already know the weather has been unusual lately,” Phil begins. “We’ve had a drought and hail in the past week here. The North Federation has also experienced several heat waves, and it’s been snowing for the first time in history in the Southern Continent,” the leaders of said countries nod in agreement of Phil’s statement.

“Because of this,” Dan takes over, “many natural disasters occurred: floods, mudslides, snowstorms, earthquakes. Many people have lost their homes or even their lives, produce of all kinds has been ruined, livestock are dying out from an unknown virus. Everyone who travelled here from other continents will also confirm that storms out in the seas have increased noticeably and many fishermen are afraid to set sail, not that they’d even catch something as for some reason fish have just disappeared,” the King also receives head bobs of acknowledgement in return.

“Chaos is setting in,” the Light Lord continues. “The events of your first night here are nothing new to us all as people are starting to think we are not fit to run our countries. There are more and more rebellions each day, sages are preaching about the end of the world, adding up to the panic. I know that Caesar Augustus has been attacked in his own home,” the Caesar nods solemnly, “and Alice, you received numerous threats and riots in your streets are hardly manageable anymore,” Alice nods too, though not so happy that her incompetence has been revealed to this many people.

“We, as some of you, have turned to religion for help,” Dan adds. “But we all know the price for sharing such power with Cults and Churches. It is a dangerous game to mix state with religion and we wish to avoid it as much as possible which is quite difficult in such times.”

“That is why we summoned you all here,” Phil says. “It is in our best interest to solve these problems as quickly as possible to not lose our thrones or, even worse, our heads.”

“That’s a really nice speech and all,” Alice says, pursing her lips. She’s got her feet on the marble table, a knife in her hands which she twirls absentmindedly. “But you forget one thing: not even magic can tame nature. It seems that those sages are right and the world is ending. So I’m suggesting for each of us to find a safe place and stay there with our loved ones until the world destroys itself.”

Dan just stares at his cousin with a deadpan expression.

“Such an uplifting thought, Alice,” Princess Melinda rolls her eyes. “No wonder your people are rioting.”

The President glares daggers at the Princess across the round table and points an actual knife at her.

“Your prissy little bi–”

“Okay,” Phil cuts Alice off. “Does anyone else want to express an opinion?”

“We should just wait it out,” Elliott says in a quiet serene voice. “Mother Nature would not destroy Her greatest creations.”

“And someone let him rule a country?” Empress Selena scoffs. King Aaron lifts a corner of his lips, the Caesar hides his smile behind his hand, and Alice just laughs out loud.

This has turned into an insult match rather quickly and they’ve been doing so well. Dan sighs, rubbing at his eyes. Phil squeezes his free hand.

“Let’s return to the matter at hand,” the Light Lord says.

“Our oracles say that something evil is coming and is causing all these disasters,” Princess Melinda pipes up, eager to please Phil. Dan rolls his eyes.

“My prophets are saying the same,” King Aaron agrees.

“Nonsense,” the Empress waves her hand. “Those religious freaks are saying it all the time. The end is near, save the children,” she mocks. “What we have to save are our nobles and ourselves. We should get rid of the peasants so they wouldn’t use up what’s left of our supplies and tough this period out somewhere safe like Alice suggested,” Selena ends. Dan wonders if that was what they were whispering about before.

“That’s hardly a solution,” the Caesar disagrees. “Who will farm after all this is done then? I doubt that our noblemen would work the fields if we were to survive.”

“Do anyone else’s priests say something similar?” Dan wonders, caught on the idea and ignoring the bickering that is now going on between Augustus and Selena.

“Yeah,” Alice admits begrudgingly, others around the table nod.

“Actually,” one of the other Caesars, who have been staying quiet and followed Augustus’s lead, speaks up, “there are reports from deep within our continent of strange sightings.”

“What kind of sightings?” Phil asks immediately.

By the look on Augustus’s face it’s obvious such knowledge was not shared with him. Dan smiles to himself.

“Pillars of pure black appearing, consuming all around them. Ground opening, swallowing people and then closing up. Black mist in forests, screams and shouts coming from it. Just before I left, I got news saying that a woman with white skin and black eyes crawled out of the mist and killed everyone in sight,” he retells.

“Pfft,” Alice snorts. “If she killed everyone in sight, who reported it to you?”

“This is pure nonsense,” Selena backs the President up. “We should be thinking of how to deal with the oncoming food shortage not some magic mumbo jumbo,” she frowns.

That is exactly what they try to do for the upcoming several hours. However, Dan’s quite distracted and keeps thinking about that woman. He too has been feeling like something disastrous is about to happen, and it’s not the strange weather. What if this woman is the evil he feels is coming? What if she’s responsible for all the natural, or not so natural, disasters? And if she were to be responsible for all this, then what does she want? To destroy the world? Murder all the leaders and rule herself? Either way doesn’t bode well for the King of Darkness.

After the first session ends with no real results achieved, Dan hurries to the Caesar whose story so intrigued him. The man is about to leave with the rest of the Easterners when Dan stops him.

“Could I talk to you?” He asks, thinking that he really should learn the not-so-important leaders’ names.

“Yes, of course,” the man responds slowly, glancing at Augustus; that man has a serious grip over all these other rulers.

“The woman you said your people saw,” Dan begins. “When exactly did you get news about her?”

“Just before we left our shores which would make it five weeks ago,” the Caesar answers.

“Do you know anything else about her?” The King questions further.

“Well,” he looks around but they’re already alone in the chamber. “There’s a legend in our parts,” he admits somehow unwillingly. “It’s about a demon that will destroy the world if summoned. It has a female form, white skin and completely black eyes. Its nails and teeth are sharp like daggers, it can control your mind with a glance, and it won’t stop until every person is dead. The people who told me about that woman said she looked exactly like the one in our stories. And I received news recently that a woman with dark eyes and cheeks stained with blood tears is travelling alone by boat through the sea from the Eastern Continent to here. That might be just people’s imaginations running wild, though,” he laughs awkwardly.

“And what do you call this demon?” Dan asks for reference, he’ll have to look this up later.

“Her name is Eve,” the man says. “However, it’s just a legend. I didn’t bring it up earlier since it’s irrelevant and can’t possibly be true.”

“Yeah, demons, that would be crazy,” Dan laughs. As crazy as him having a freaking wolf that’s been pulled out of a gods know where leading black void and that helps him channel his magic? Preposterous!

Phil’s waiting for him by the exit, kneeling down, scratching behind his wolf’s ear.

“Satisfied with your knowledge?” He wonders, standing up.

“Not really,” Dan frowns. “I still want to look this up.”

“Should I prepare myself for more sessions where you’re daydreaming and I’m the only one answering questions and making suggestions?” Phil slips his fingers through Dan’s as they’re climbing back up to the ground level; wolves trailing behind them.

“Shit, sorry,” the King bites his lip. “I’ll try to concentrate.”

“Nah, it’s okay,” the Lord smiles. “I know how this stuff fascinates you.”

“You’re the most perfect husband to ever exist,” Dan declares, stealing a kiss and making Phil giggle.

However, as they reach ground floor, it’s not so fun anymore. Augustus is waiting for them by the stairs, clearly wanting that private conversation they promised him. Dan groans in his head while his wolf huffs out loud.

“Augustus,” Phil says in as thrilled a voice as Dan’s feeling after enduring twelve hours of political discussions.

“Do you have a minute?” The Caesar asks with the always present smile.

“Sure, it’s only nine and we haven’t eaten all day but, of course, anything for you,” Dan mumbles under his nose, refraining from rolling his eyes.

“I wanted to discuss a more private matter with you two,” Augustus starts. “It’s not a secret that our countries have a rocky relationship. And it would be most beneficial for us all if we strengthened that bond,” he shuts up and Dan stares at him, blinking tiredly and needing it to be spelled out.

“You want what exactly?” Phil asks before Dan can.

“I wish for our countries to bond in marriage,” Augustus smiles. “My sons have been spending some time with your daughter and they seem most infatuated with her. But if the girl is not happy with them, I have two more sons, and a daughter for your boy.”

“Alex is ten,” Dan says slowly. “And Nate’s four. I don’t think they’re thinking about marriage yet.”

The Caesar laughs as if Dan’s told something funny. The King and the Lord exchange an exasperated glance.

“Oh, I’m not saying they should marry right now,” he explains. “We could make a contract, get them engaged for now.”

“You’re proposing an arranged marriage,” Dan’s brain finally catches up; he should really sleep for more than two hours a day.

“And I guarantee that the Commonwealth would not find a better ally than the Eastern Empire,” Augustus assures them.

“Mhm, I’m sure,” the King fakes a smile. “We’ll think on it,” he agrees so that he could get rid of him sooner.

“Wonderful,” the Caesar gloats as if he’s gotten an affirmative answer to his proposal. “Have a good night,” he wishes and then he’s off.

“An arranged marriage? Really, Dan?” Phil’s all judgy and looking at him with narrowed eyes.

But the King doesn’t get to answer and they barely walk for five steps when Selena appears out of nowhere, making Phil jump. The old woman is once again wearing a woolly dress which can’t be that comfortable, considering that the heat wave is returning.

“I need to talk to you,” she declares.

“Of course, you do,” Dan sighs.

“I won’t beat around the bush,” the Empress says. “My only son is incompetent and his wife is an idiot. But their child seems to be promising and I already took custody of him. I need a bride for him, and a powerful one. Melinda’s too old, of course, and gods know when she or Alice will have children. That leaves me with you on this bloody continent. Alexandra looks like a smart girl, if a bit uneducated on certain etiquette, and I would take her as a betrothed to my grandson,” she says as if Dan and Phil are suggesting the proposal and she’s the one to graciously accept.

“Right,” the King says as Phil stares open-mouthed at the Empress. “We’ll think on it,” he nods and drags Phil away. “The world’s ending and they’re arranging marriages?” He wonders aloud.

“The world’s not ending,” Phil rolls his eyes.

“Ah, how brilliant that I caught you,” Elliott exclaims clapping his hands and the King and the Lord turn around to face him.

“Just splendid,” Dan mocks him in a faux jovial tone, his fake grin is bigger than ever.

“He doesn’t have sons or daughters, does he?” Phil murmurs just to his husband.

“We didn’t have time to discuss my wonderful proposition for you,” President Elliott says.

“What better time than now, right?” The King laughs, more out of misery than anything since apparently they’re not getting home tonight.

“Of course, of course,” Elliott agrees; Dan only now notices how lanky the other man is, and how he’s got weirdly long spindly fingers. “As you know, my country lives in the most perfect and peaceful times these days. Out of the goodness of my heart, I want to let you know that I could take up teaching your son and daughter the ways of our lifestyle so that together we could build a brighter and better future,” he smiles.

“Not a marriage proposal, wow,” Dan nods, quite impressed.

“We still have Aaron left,” Phil reminds him. “He’s got, what, like six sons?”

Elliott blinks like a deer blinded by lanterns of hunters in the middle of the night.

“We’ll think on it,” the King replies, throws another forced grin and sprints away with Phil.

They actually run through the whole of the middle ring to Phil’s office, laughing like children and completely out of breath as they reach their destination.

“Hurry up,” Phil says to Dan while the latter tries to open up the portal, “or someone else will pester us with useless suggestions.”

“Useless?” Dan echoes. The portal’s open and Phil steps through first.

“Yeah,” the Lord nods when his husband and their wolves are on the other side. “I mean, arranged marriages, Elliott’s teaching? That’s just ridiculous.”

“I agree on Elliott’s proposal but we should at least consider the other two,” Dan says carefully.

“Consider them?” Phil steps back, crossing his arms. “You can’t be serious.”

“I am, Phil. The Commonwealth comes first. We will need alliances,” the King says. “And what better way to ensure them than through marriage? I have to admit that Selena’s proposal is not very appealing but just think how beneficial it would be if Alex married one of Augustus’s sons?”

“I am not putting our children through all of that,” Phil says crossly. “Arranged marriages are awful and they both should have the right to choose who to love. What if Alex realises that she’s not even into boys or anyone for that matter? And what if Nate falls in love with a guy? We’re lucky we got to be with each other, most people in our position don’t get that freedom. But that’s decided by parents and I don’t want to be the kind of father who forces his children into relationships with people who they don’t know, into relationships that might be dangerous. You, as much as I, have heard stories from the East of how they treat women. You think Augustus’s wife didn’t want to come here or was she told to stay behind? I don’t want that kind of future for our children,” Phil finishes his rant with a huff.

“Alright,” Dan agrees easily and Phil frowns. “You’re right, arranged marriages are awful. We’ll form alliances another way.”

Phil looks at him suspiciously, not quite believing Dan would give up arguing so soon and without any further comments. He’s a master manipulator and is known to have his way in the end, so Phil’s a little concerned.

“I won’t go behind your back,” Dan rolls his eyes. “I  _do_  care about our children too, you know. And it would be cruel to force them through something like that,” he adds. “Do you really think I’m that awful of a person?”

“No,” Phil smirks. “I think I’m getting better at convincing you,” he closes the gap between them and then they’re kissing in some random hallway of their castle, just like when they were teens and couldn’t stay away from one another even for a second; it’s quite embarrassing, really.

***

The heat wave has come back full force. The grass is already losing the green and is slowly acquiring more brownish hues. There’s not even a breeze and the sweltering sun radiates heat undisturbed. The King wanted to have breakfast on this inappropriately hot morning inside, however, his husband, the ever sunshine loving dork, insisted on having it on the terrace near a pond.

“If it’s really that demon woman doing this, I’m gonna make her suffer like I am right now,” Dan complains. He’s sitting in the shade, hardly eating his breakfast and watching as the shadow wolves lie by the pond breathing heavily, their tongues sticking out.

“It might help if you didn’t dress in all black,” Phil comments, waving his spoonful of cereal at him. “Or if you wore shorts.”

“Ugh,” Dan groans at Phil’s incompetence in such matters and slumps in his chair. “I am the King of  _Darkness_ , Phil,” he explains, exasperated. “I can’t be seen wearing shorts.”

“So you’d rather suffer a heat stroke and look ‘intimidating’?” Phil lifts an eyebrow at him and actually makes air quotes.

“You don’t think I look intimidating?” The brunet asks, insulted by such a preposterous claim.

“You look adorable and squishy and I wanna poke your dimple when you smile,” Phil smirks. Dan shakes his head but he can’t control the blush creeping up his neck. “I also wanna fuck you against a wall and hear you moan my name obscenely,” he adds in a whisper, his hand on Dan’s thigh, fingers brushing up slowly.

“I could free my schedule for tonight,” Dan’s fingers meet Phil’s and they lean in closer to each other.

“I’d very much like that,” Phil says softly and Dan tips his head to the side, anticipating a kiss, but his husband pulls away, grinning. “You’ll have to wait for tonight then.”

“Tease,” Dan accuses him, pursing his lips.

“I’m allowed to have fun once in a while,” the other shrugs a shoulder.

“Then I might be allowed to spend tonight in the library,” the brunet shrugs too, crossing his arms.

“You should be called the King of Drama,” Phil rolls his eyes. “Besides, you spent the previous night there. Find anything useful?”

“Well, if it’s really that demon we’re dealing with then we’re screwed,” Dan chews on his lip. “Basically, natural disasters are the first step of her destruction plan. When people have suffered from those and are weaker, she summons this ghost army or something that slays everyone. To do that, though, she has to go to the North Pole and that Caesar did say there have been sightings of a black eyed woman travelling in a boat through the Sunlit Sea.”

“That doesn’t sound very good,” Phil frowns.

“Yeah, and the only way to kill her is to find the one who summoned her and kill them,” Dan finishes retelling his research.

“How do we know who summoned her?” The Lord asks.

“We don’t, that’s the problem,” the King explains. “It has to be someone around the region where she appeared, however.”

“That narrows it down,” Phil remarks.

“It might not even be real for all we know,” Dan shrugs. “This could be just the world ending.”

“I’d prefer a demon I could actually deal with,” the other grins.

Dan’s about to answer when Nate runs up to him, all smiles and curls bouncing. His nanny barely keeps up with him, rushing in a few seconds later. The boy extends him a sheet of paper with his right hand, keeping the other behind his back.

“For me?” Dan asks, all thoughts about demons forgotten completely.

Nathan nods enthusiastically and the King takes the drawing. It’s a simple scribble of some black animal which Dan assumes is his wolf and of a dark figure which probably is Dan himself. There’s also some brown lines and green swirls atop them, suggesting trees most likely. Dan grins at his son and kisses his forehead, messing up his curls.

“Thank you, I love it, it’s wonderful,” he says meaning it with all his heart.

Nathan smiles toothily, proud of himself.

“Do you have something for me too?” Phil asks, watching the exchange fondly. “Or don’t I get anything?” He fakes a saddened expression.

The boy shakes his head, eyes sparkling.

“Nothing at all, really?” Phil pouts. “Do you love your Dad more than me to get him such a wonderful gift? Would you break your Papa’s heart like that?” He asks with the most sorrowful expression, a hand on his heart.

Nathan bites his lip and shuffles closer to Phil, giving him a drawing too, feeling a bit guilty for having played with his father’s emotions like that.

“Oh, you tricked me, you little devil,” Phil gasps. “There will be consequences for that,” he warns, wiggling his fingers at the boy.

Nate’s smile returns in an instant and he screeches in delight as he runs down the steps off the terrace and onto the grass, Phil follows him, of course. The Lord plays it off as if it’s completely impossible for him to catch his son and collapses on the ground after a minute.  The boy runs up to check on him and then Phil pounces, tickling him mercilessly while Nathan giggles and tries to wriggle out of his grasp. Dan watches them with an affectionate smile.

“Where’s Alex?” The King asks the nanny, turning away from the antics of his husband and son.

“She is still asleep, Your Majesty,” the woman answers.

“Really?” Dan raises his eyebrows. Alex is the only member of their family to actually be awake early and this is most unusual. “Phil, I’m gonna check on Alex,” the brunet calls to the man still rolling on the grass with their son.

“Okay,” Phil shouts back, Nate’s on him, trying and failing to return the tickle torture, but Phil’s quite good at pretending that the boy is succeeding.

The King rises from the table, folding up the drawing as he walks back into the castle and putting it in his pocket so he’d have it close to himself. It takes a few minutes for him to get to the third floor and to his daughter’s chamber. He knocks softly on the intricately carved door and receives no answer. Risking making Alexandra mad, he opens the door and steps in. There’s a lump on the bed but it’s clearly just pillows stacked together under the duvet. The King goes closer and finds a note atop the pile. A ‘fuck’ slips past his lips and he hurries out of the room.

“How could this have happened?!” The King shouts, pounding the desk with his hands.

It’s a few minutes later and there’s a meeting at the King’s office. He’s absolutely furious and glaring at anyone and everyone who is in the room.

“The security has been lowered since the leaders are back at the Palace,” the acting General of Night Soldiers explains as the real General is helping the Captain of the Golden Guards in the Capital.

“And they still managed to not notice a girl running into the woods?” The King growls. He doesn’t wait for a response and attacks another one of his employees. “And how could you not notice that she was gone?” He demands of the nanny, responsible for taking care of both the children. The Lord doesn’t even try to calm him down, he’s quite enraged himself but has more control not to show it.

“I thought the girl was asleep, Your Grace. I would never imagine her doing such a thing,” the woman weeps, fat tears rolling down her cheeks.

“Arrange a search party,” the Light Lord orders the acting General. “Take all the Soldiers if you have to,” he glares at him and the man bows, leaving the room. “Ruth,” he addresses the nanny, “take the day off,” he says with a clear implication that she will no longer be working here, “and Margo,” he looks at another of the nannies, “you’re in charge now. Please, don’t leave Nathan’s side,” the woman bows her head and they both leave.

There’s silence in the office after that. Phil slumps into a chair, resting his chin on his hand, looking as grave as ever. Dan’s still standing in front of the mahogany desk, staring at the note Alex left behind. He runs a hand through his hair, tugging on the roots angrily.

“It’s my fault,” he murmurs after a few minutes.

“Dan, it’s not,” Phil sighs.

“But she overheard me,” Dan’s voice trembles. “I was suggesting that arranged marriage is a good thing, she thought I’d force her into it with Augustus’s sons and she ran away. She spent the night in Shadow woods, Phil. Who knows if she even survived it?” He whimpers.

“No,” Phil says forcefully, standing up and approaching his husband. “Do not even think like that, go it?” He demands, cupping Dan’s cheeks and wiping off tears with his thumbs.

Dan falls into his arms, hiding his face in the crook of Phil’s neck, not caring that it’s unbearably hot and hugging another person seems like a nightmare.

They cancel today’s leader meeting, staying home, trying to figure out how to comb through all of the Shadow woods as fast as possible. They’re restless all day and as night comes without any news, even Phil’s strong façade starts crumbling down. Thus Dan decides they have to take matters into their own hands. The search party is still looking for the princess; however, the King and the Lord now join them too.

The night is warm and still. Moon’s high in the sky, round and pristinely white. Its glow doesn’t really help in the woods as the trees and shrubberies are too thick for the moonlight to pierce them. The King of Darkness has a purple flame in his hand, he walks following the shadow wolves that are guiding them gods know where.

“One of us should have stayed with Nathan,” Phil whispers, keeping close to Dan.

“He’s not in any danger,” Dan responds. “Besides, we work better as a team,” he smiles; the purple glow of the flame casts strange shadows on his face.

They lost the search party a while back and have been combing through the woods alone for a few hours. Dan’s not really sure that a ten year old girl could come all this way but they haven’t found her yet so he’s clinging onto hope. And the wolves are a great asset, they at least seem to know where they’re going.

“There,” Phil whispers suddenly, pointing to a glow in the distance.

They go closer to it, the soft light flickering in all sorts of shapes. Phil taught Alex that spell. It sets everything the person touches alight for a moment, allowing to create drawings of light that sparkle and glitter bouncing off various surfaces. They find the girl sitting on a stump before a boulder, tracing her fingertips onto it.

“Alex,” Phil says tentatively.

Alexandra jumps up, frightened, the glow disappears instantly.

“I’m not coming back with you,” she announces stubbornly, arms crossed, brows furrowed.

“Alright,” Dan says; he’s extremely relieved to have found her and would hug her this instant but assumes she wouldn’t appreciate it right now. “Then can we at least talk before you start your life as a recluse in the woods?”

The girl purses her lips, not exactly glad to be mocked, and glares at her father.

“I’m not marrying one of Augustus’s sons. I’d rather live here than with them,” she says irately.

“No, honey,” Phil responds calmly. “We won’t make you do that.”

“I heard you talking, I know all about the arranged marriage you have planned for me. Don’t lie to me,” she throws at Phil, eyes narrowed in suspicion.

“Yeah, but that was it, Alex,” Dan tries. “We discussed it, like we’re supposed to, and then turned the idea down. You’re a smart girl, you know how this works. We have to at least consider it. Now that we have, we decided that we value the happiness of our children more than political alliances,” he appeals to her logical side.

“Really?” She asks, chewing on her bottom lip, looking from Dan to Phil.

“Yes,” Phil nods. “We want you yourself to choose who you want to spend the rest of your life with or no one at all,” he shrugs a shoulder.

Alexandra hesitates a moment before running into Phil’s arms and hugging him close. Dan joins the embrace with one hand so they wouldn’t be enveloped in darkness.

“You scared us so much,” he admits, kissing her curls.

“Sorry,” the girl murmurs sincerely.

“It’s okay,” Phil sniffles.

“Are you crying?” Dan asks.

“Am not,” Phil pouts, wiping at his eyes.

“You so are, you’re such a sap,” Dan rolls his eyes.

“I missed you guys so much,” Alex smiles at their light banter.

“Let’s go home then,” Dan suggests, taking Alexandra by the hand. “Promise to talk about something like this with us before making rash decisions?”

“Promise,” she beams at him.

The search party gets called back as soon as they return. Dan and Phil can’t quite let go of their children right now so it gets cramped in their bed. Alexandra’s exhausted and she falls asleep instantly snuggled up to Phil, Nathan’s sleeping next to Dan using him as a cuddle buddy instead of his plush wolf, shadow wolves are sprawled out at the foot of the bed, snoring gently. The King and the Lord are truly enjoying the ideal family life.

Phil draws a heart with his fingertips in the air. His magic makes it sparkle in all imaginable hues of blue. The heart floats mid-air, shimmering and vibrating, until Phil sends it to Dan with a gust of wind. Dan rolls his eyes at his husband form across the bed. Phil pouts, batting his lashes at the brunet. The King sighs softly. He gives in to Phil’s wishes and draws a black heart, sending it Phil’s way.

“Happy now?” He mouths at him, afraid to speak up so not to wake the children.

Phil nods a few times, smiling brightly. He paints a blue arrow, piercing the heart, and writes their initials in the middle. Dan shakes his head but he’s grinning. He would never admit it but he’s got a soft spot for all this cheesy stuff Phil does.

“Love you,” Phil whispers almost inaudibly.

“Love you too,” Dan whispers back.

And then he thinks that they might be alright as long as they have each other. Screw the world falling into chaos, screw the leaders demanding all kinds of things from them that they can’t give, screw everyone who thinks they’re not raising their children properly, not making the right decisions for their country, expecting so much from them. As long as Dan’s got his family, all his wishes are alive and he can deal with whatever that’s to come. Be it another natural disaster, alliances falling apart or some mythical demon woman wanting to kill everyone in the world. He’s in absolute bliss right now and if someone tries to ruin this for him, they’ll experience the full wrath of the King of Darkness.

***

Sun creeps up over the horizon slowly but surely. Its rays play on the surface of the sea, making it sparkle green and blue. The sky is brightening bit by bit, the dark blues of the night being exchanged for softer pinks and lilacs. Wind rustles the tops of sand dunes, rearranging them.

She steps onto the shore, her bare feet leaving imprints on the wet sand only to be washed away by an oncoming wave. Her completely black orbs scan the barren land. Tears of ruby blood trickle down her cheeks, dropping on the ground without a sound. A smile appears on her face, revealing sharp teeth. Eve breaths in deeply, enjoying the salty scent of sea; it’s her favourite one from the human worlds, nothing quite reminds her of home like it.

Humming a soft lullaby-like tune to herself, she starts walking along the shore. Bloodlust is nearly untameable inside her and she can’t wait to slit someone’s throat.


End file.
